We have a 1st grader at YY with a newly diagnosed reading disorder. We have found the school to be responsive and supportive in all aspects of the IEP process. Actually, it was a really refreshing process. It was very apparent that the team wanted what was in the best interest of my child. If you lottery in you have struck gold. YY is a special community.

I'm the mom of a YY 4th grader who has dyslexia. I will start by saying that every child is different, so I can only speak to my own experiences. My child did great in PK and K, but by 1st we knew he was lagging in reading. He was diagnosed in 2nd and has had an IEP ever since. The school has been responsive and willing to collaborate on the types of interventions that would be the most effective for my particular kiddo. He's still about 1.5 years behind in reading, but is making steady (slow) progress and his attitude towards school has dramatically improved since he started getting support. He loves YY, loves his friends, and has a great school community around him. As for the Mandarin, he does in that about as well as he does in English. He's great in speaking, listening comprehension and absorbing content, but struggles with the reading and writing. Despite that, he still really enjoys the Chinese. Would he be farther along in reading English if he hadn't been spending time in an immersion environment? Maybe. We've got a robust plan in place to try to get him to grade level by middle school, and I'm comfortable with that.

All that said, there are likely to be very, very few lottery spots open for K, so I would make sure you are researching other schools.

Also, for a K'er to lottery in, they will be in class with kids who have had TWO years of immersion in Mandarin in PK3 and PK4. If I had a kiddo who was struggling/at-risk in English, I would hesitate to put them in an academic environment where they would be/feel behind in both languages. Not sure I'd want to take that chance with possible self-esteem issues.

Anonymous wrote:I know of a 5 year old who was diagnosed as having "dyslexic tendencies" and now a year later they have moved the diagnosis to dyslexic for sure. I didn't realize you could diagnose this early, as a child of 5 is often not reading, and there is such a wide range of what is normal. And yet, they can!

Chances are, there were other indications of learning disabilities besides the inability to read.

I know of a 5 year old who was diagnosed as having "dyslexic tendencies" and now a year later they have moved the diagnosis to dyslexic for sure. I didn't realize you could diagnose this early, as a child of 5 is often not reading, and there is such a wide range of what is normal. And yet, they can!

I also agree that no specialist would diagnose a pre-k child with dyslexia or any other reading disorder. That doesn't make any sense. What other problems is she having that led you to have her evaluated? If the only symptom is that she doesn't read at age 4 or 5, then she's pretty much in the same boat as the majority of children. Yes, some children read at that age but most don't.

YY's K list moved 1 spot last year. There were 3 siblings on the list. Take your worries elsewhere (spoken as a sibling who was on the WL and took another option because we didn't want to split the location of our kids)

Anonymous wrote:We are hoping to lottery in to Yu Ying for our rising K. We are in a local DC charter and our daughter just had a psychoeducational. She has a moderate reading disorder. How is Yu Ying with reading disorders/dyslexia? Do they have on staff reading specialists that are OG I or II trained?

How did you get a dylexia diagnosis with a child who isn't yet in Kindergarten? I am very curious about who did the testing.

Starting in K, the kids switch between English day and Mandarin day so your child will be spending 50% of her time in English and 50% in Mandarin so your child will learn everything in English one day and everything in Mandarin the next. So everyone has to learn to read in both English and Mandarin, do math in English and Mandarin, etc.

Why would you want to subject a child with a known reading disorder to this?

Anonymous wrote:Please do not put your child with dyslexia in a school that focuses on teaching a second language. Many kids with dyslexia get waivers to skip foreign language instruction because it is so difficult for them and they need to focus on English.

Also- I have never heard of getting a dyslexia dx in pre-k. Seems strange.

Agree with PP. this school would not be a good choice for a child with dyslexia.

Please do not put your child with dyslexia in a school that focuses on teaching a second language. Many kids with dyslexia get waivers to skip foreign language instruction because it is so difficult for them and they need to focus on English.

Also- I have never heard of getting a dyslexia dx in pre-k. Seems strange.

Your chances of getting into Yu Ying for K is very very low so your DC will be better served if you research other schools that she a better chance of getting into having reading specialists that are OG trained.

Is Mandarin important to you? Almost all of her classmates will have had a full yr or two of Mandarin immersion in prek3 and prek4.

We are hoping to lottery in to Yu Ying for our rising K. We are in a local DC charter and our daughter just had a psychoeducational. She has a moderate reading disorder. How is Yu Ying with reading disorders/dyslexia? Do they have on staff reading specialists that are OG I or II trained?